Q. What does it mean when I get the error "Socket Error".
A. Problem is on End Users side. There are many "Socket type errors" and there is usually a number after the error message. For example – socket error – 10048. This is one of the most common errors.
The description for this error is. “Address already in use”. Typically, only one usage of each socket address (protocol/IP address/port) is permitted. This error occurs if an application attempts to bind a socket to an IP address/port that has already been used for an existing socket, or a socket that was not closed properly, or one that is still in the process of closing.
This is a common error you get from winsock when you are out of ports on the client (load generating) machine. Windows (NT/2K/XP) has a default of 5000 ports that can be used for socket connections. 1,024 of these are reserved, which leaves a total of 3,976 ports available. If you see “10048” errors you will need to increase this value in your registry, under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SYSTEM/CurrentControlSet/Services/Tcpip/Parameters, add or modify the “MAXUserPort” value. This value must be between 5000 and 65534. (Be sure to reboot after this change).
Or the problem could occur whenever you have another VPN client software installed on the system. The most noted conflicting clients are: AOL, Cisco VPN, SSH – Sentinel and PGP. Removing these clients will in most cases resolve the issue.